Ms. Drippy McRandomly-Snot At Your Service

It's random Wednesday!

Okay, apparently it's random drippy Wednesday because I have a cold and I am Not Happy about it.  I've done pretty well this year, and last, which I attribute to the fact that I was sick 2 weeks out of every month in the kids first 2.5 years of life through being exposed to every virus known to humanity.  The viruses appear to have mutated, however, plus I seem to have entered a new set of daily petrie dishes, I mean preschool classrooms. 

Anyway, the poor Mafia was forced to eat dinner with me and allowed me to breathe in her general direction last night, despite the fact that most of my time was spent saying things like "di don't dow about dat, bot do do dink?" and blowing my nose (and in the most ladylike way, asking her to bring me back tissues from the bathroom).  I was a freakin' barrell of snot laughs.  If you see her, give her your sympathy and maybe some echinacea.  I didn't realize how bad it was until it was upon me.

It's one of those colds where you feel like hell, but you don't feel like sleeping it off (I'll allow as how this could be the 12-hour sudafed talking).  You feel, at least theoretically, your typical amount of energy, so the idea of hiding under the covers until it's all over, my favorite way to deal with a bad cold, is not going to fly.  It's just that your typical amount of energy is largely devoted to scraping the skin off the sides of your nose with the sand-paper like tissues available at the office (note to self, bring good ones tomorrow) and to sneezing uncontrollably and trying to pronounce "th" and "v" on the phone to people who don't need to hear about your nasal problems.  So in between nose-skin removal procedures and the efficient spreading of germs around your office environment (I did in fact hesitate to lick envelopes today), you feel somewhat less effective than usual.

I'm also pretty sure my brains are now exiting through my nose, so that doesn't make me much more effective.  Go figure.

So MIT was fun.  Marcy gets the award for first commenter to go wrong with the beaver theme.  As if I had any doubt.  Mafia pretended to be restrained but just saved the jokes for when I saw her in person.  She even took a picture of me in my full traveling knitterly business-mom regalia which you will see here when she emails it to me (no pressure).

I was supposed to stay through today but it didn't work out due to the cold and the fact that the workshop for today was not looking promising.  Instead I'm here in the office, flying under the radar and getting stuff done.  Overall, a nice bonus day, though I usually assume that I'm going to save the universe and do my expense reports on days like this, and it rarely works out that way.

This weekend is the big Festival of Birthday.  The short people will be five (FIVE!).  I still think they'll lick the plates though.  There's grown up, and then there's grown up.  Heck, I'm not grown up enough to not lick the plate if the cake is tasty enough.

I did, honestly, think that I had a list of interesting things to which to link you, but this one, thanks to Riin, is the only one I can remember (I think the rest went out in the last tissue).

A Fat Rant

Rock on girl.

While I'm sure you wish you could hear more about the contents of my nose, I've used up one box of sandpaper and must visit the supply closet for more.  Just be glad you don't have this, and if you do, be glad you don't have this AND have to try to keep up with the latest insanity perpretrated by the department of education, not to mention the latest rankings kerfuffle.  Catch up on work, my patootie.  It took me half the day to figure what the hell they're doing in Washington. 

Excuse me, I have to sneeze now.

Comments

[Kathode Ray Tube]

Sorry you couldn't stay til Wed. I was looking forward to meeting you at the Mafia organized lunch! Hope you feel better. Happy Birthday to the now-big kids!

[Sara]

Love the fat rant! Happy birthday to the way too grown up kidlets ;)

[Carole]

Five! Holy crap! Happy Birthday to all of you!

[Marcy]

Ginger tea with ginger brandy and honey in it will fix you right up.

What a very excellent rant. Thanks, Cate!

Hippo Birdie to the big short people!! YaaaaY!!

[Cara]

I rue the day when I'm too old to lick the plate. When it comes, I hope it's because I'm dead.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! FIVE AIN'T NO JIVE!

[Mel]

Of course they'll lick the plates. My birthday is this weekend and I'm, well, old enough to be their father, and I still lick my plate (It puzzles me that David never does this). Maybe it's an Aries thing.

[PumpkinMama]

Oh the time, how she flies! Happy Big 5 to the kiddos.

[Bethany]

Ugh... I have the same exact cold... hope I didn't send it to you in the package :(

Happy 5th Birthday to the kiddies!!!

[Diane]

Let's see now, what first? First, get better. I like a blackberry tea with honey while at work and Screech (a very dark Canadian rum) for when I'm home.

Next, happy birthday wishes to the kids. It's truly amazing how fast they grow up. I'm still wondering where the time went and my baby will be 22 soon.

Don't even get me started on standardized tests and rankings. To put it bluntly, they're not even worth the paper they're printed on.

Lastly, get better soon!

[alice]

i linked that fat rant on my blog too, it's jsut TOOO good. i'm now proud to call myself fat because of her. it's the same as saying i've got blue eyes, and what's wrong with that?

[Ruth]

Happy birthday to the kidlets! Five is a very good year.

Hope you're feeling better soon. Late spring colds suck.

[Deborah C.]

Happy 5th Birthday to the kidlets! Have you tried a Neti pot to clear your sinuses? It's non-invasive and it does work. Hot lemonade with rum is nice, too...

[amysue]

A friend linked me the Fat Rant last week and I loved it.

I hope you feel better soon and that the short creatures in your home have a wonderful Bday! 5?!!

BTW, there will be babies in chez amysue again in a few months!! Now that my health is back on track we're back on track for doing the emergency infant foster care. Just need to talke a few more classes and finish the homestudy. (See what I'll do to get to knit baby clothes?)

[Lucia]

Aw, geez, not you too. I had that for over a month -- still am not quite over it, in fact, which makes it nearer to two months, but I'm down to the occasional sniffle. Feel better, drink tea, eat chicken soup. Happy birthday to all!

[bibliotecaria]

Go home! Even when you still have all that "seeming" energy, I think you need to be home relaxing and getting better so you can get over it faster. (Are you suffering from Puritan guilt? It's a sad syndrome that makes you think you must work as long as you can. I suffer from it all too often.)

I hope you feel better soon. So far (cross the fingers) I've avoided a cold for a year. However, within a week, I'm heading to visit my sister -- with three nephews who generously share their germs. They were the ones who got me sick the last time.

[Beth S.]

Gesundheit! :-) And good luck with the festivities. Amazing--you're only one year away from "Now We Are Six". :-)

[The Feminist Mafia]

Dear, I always love to see you, even if you're dripping snot on me.

And today's the day, right? Happy Birthday Short People!! And Congrats Moms.

[Steph]

Happy Birthday not-so-wee-ones!

And I hope you're better so there's no snot involved with any plate licking.

[Orris/Diana]

Hot soup, lots of garlic and chili. Thai food makes a lovely take-out version of this, as does Vietnamese pho.

As for the kidlets, I can't believe they're five already! But you didn't answer the important question: What KIND of icing will there be to lick off the plates? For that matter, what kind of cake?

I hope you're feeling considerably better.